''Blizzard in Birmingham''
The Turner kids were not accustomed to snow. The most they ever got in
their southern city of Birmingham was an inch or so per year. Even that was
quite infrequent—it
never snowed more than once or twice each winter. And on the few occasions that
it did snow, it was always too warm for the snow to accumulate. The temperature
almost never got below freezing.
What was funny was that even the
slightest bit of snow was enough to cancel school and close businesses. No one
knew how to drive in the stuff. It was never enough for young Lily Mae Turner,
though, because the snow that came was always too sparse to build a snowman or
to go sledding.
But one night, in March of 1993,
something magical happened. An unexpected blast of cold air from Canada and moist air
from the Caribbean converged on the eastern part of the United States to create
the “Storm of the Century.”
All that the Turner kids knew was that
when they woke up Saturday morning, there was 17 inches of unbelievable snow on
their front lawn and as far as the eye could see.
The Turner parents were in shock. Most
folks in town were ill-prepared for such a storm. They had no shovels
to dig their way out and no salt to keep from slipping. They had no idea what
to do.
While the adults seemed paralyzed with disbelief, the Turner kids
set about having the time of their lives. Lily Mae discovered that a rope tied
to a metal trash can lid made a perfect sled. John Henry figured out that if he
put his feet in plastic grocery bags before putting on his rain boots, his feet
stayed warm for a longer time. Rachel made snow angels in every part of the
yard. Together, all the kids made a huge snowman and dressed it in their dad’s
hat and jacket. (Mr. Turner didn’t own a scarf!)
For three straight days, the Turner kids
had a splendid time. On
Tuesday, the temperature hit 70 degrees, and life for these Southerners went
back to normal.
Questions:
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1) As
used at the beginning of the story, what does accustomed mean?
A. used
to
B. aware
of
C. scared
of
D. interested
in
A
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2) As
used at the beginning of the story, which is the best antonym for infrequent?
A. common
B. long
C. rare
D. surprising
C
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3) Which
other title would best fit this passage?
A. “1993”
B. “A
Cold March”
C. “Magical
Snow”
D. “Ill-Prepared
Parents”
C
4) The
author may have described the storm as magical because
A. Lily
Mae believed the snow was magic
B. it
was such an unusual thing to happen that it felt like magic
C. there
was no other explanation for why the storm occurred
D. the
author wanted to cast doubt on whether the storm actually took place
B
6) What
conclusions can be drawn about what the weather is typically like in
Birmingham during the month of March?
I. It is warm.
II. It does not snow.
III. It is windy.
A. I
only
B. I
and II
C. II
and III
D. I,
II, and III
A
8) "What was funny was that
even the slightest bit of snow was enough to cancel school and close
businesses."
"No
one knew how to drive in the stuff."
Which of
the following punctuation marks could best be used to combine the above
sentences?
A. a comma
( , )
B. a
semicolon ( ; )
C. an
ellipsis ( … )
D. a
hyphen ( - )
A
10) As used at the end of the story,
which is the best antonym for splendid?
A. great
B. perfect
C. happy
D. terrible
B
12) Pick
one of these two situations, and write a paragraph to describe what would you
do and why if you were in the same shoes as:
1-Turner
kids
2- the Turner parents
You can start off by saying: If I were the Turner kids/parent,
I would ………………………………………
If I were
the Turner parent, I would take the advantage to play snow with my family.
Such as we could have the snow fighting and make a big snowman. We could take
a lot of pictures of the beautiful scene with my family and have a barbecue
in front of the campfire.
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5) How
are the children different than the adults in this passage?
A. The
kids stayed warm, while the adults were very cold.
B. The
kids knew the storm was coming, while the adults did not.
C. The
kids went out and had fun, while the adults did not know what to do.
D. The
adults still had to go to work, while the kids stayed home.
7) What can be said about the Turner
kids' ideas for playing in the snow without the usual snow gear?
I. They
were creative.
II. They
were effective.
III. They
were complicated.
A. I only
B. I and II
C. II and III
D. I, II, and III
D
9) What was going on outside of
Birmingham during the snowstorm?
A. The rest of the country was also dealing with snow.
B. Nothing—Birmingham was the only area affected by the
storm.
C. The Eastern United States was also hit by the storm.
D. The passage does not provide enough information to
say.
C
11) Find synonyms for all the underlined
words in the passage and then use them in sentences of your own.
13) Click on this link and record one to two minutes of a personal experienced that you had once and you felt "ill-prepared" for it. Then save the link and add it on your blog. You need to include the following points:
·
When and where
this event happened?
·
What was the
situation?
·
Why were you
ill-prepared for it?
·
What did you do?
·
How did it end?
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